This invention relates to barcode detection systems and, in particular, to a method of accurately determining the location of a barcode on a document.
Barcode systems have attained widespread use as a means of identifying products. They are utilized in vastly diverse applications ranging from supermarket check-out lines to factory production lines.
In order to successfully read a barcode, it must be properly located. This task is made more difficult due to random orientation and position of barcodes on a document. Barcode location is most efficiently determined by reference to the four corner points of the barcode. Location accuracy of these four corner points must be precise enough to allow accurate barcode reading by a "barcode read" technique such as the technique described in the co-pending application Ser. No. 07/289,663 filed Dec. 22, 1988, entitled "Barcode Recognition From A Known Location" by Edward W. Connell and Shih-Jong James Lee.
A practical method of determining the location of a barcode should possess an algorithm suitable to implementation in a single PC card and achieve a throughput of more than 16 documents per second. A throughput of more than 16 documents per second should be achieved regardless of size, quality, and content of the background document.